Reincarnated

I lied on my bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling. My hands were resting comfortably on my stomach, fingers crossed. I could feel the blood pounding in my head, against my temples.

Mary-Beth…

She was looking at me. Mary-Beth was living next door; she was alive. No, a teenager I never met was living next door, I reminded myself. Her face flashed before me, eyes green and alive.

Alive…

I bit my lip, feeling it crack and begin to bleed. I could get up right now and go see her. I would hold her in my arms and cry tears of joy. I would tell her how much I missed her, and she would smile at me and say she missed me, too.

But who was Andrew? I’ve never heard of an Andrew.

She wasn’t my Mary-Beth… I turned over and faced the wall. Sasha would be disappointed in me, in these crazy thoughts. I closed my eyes and willed her image away; it stubbornly stayed plastered to my eyelids. Breathe in, breathe out…

I did that. I slept.

I slept for three days, not without intervals. Sometimes, I got up to use the bathroom, and I also ate food. But mostly, I slept. Although, her face remained, haunting me through my dreams. I didn’t dare to go outside and sit on my porch for fear of seeing her again. What would I do then? I would stand up, and I would go to her.

And I would be a fool to do so…

The girl would be afraid of me; she would run and tell her parents. They would think bad things about me, and my neighborhood wouldn’t love me anymore. More sleep will heal me.

A day later, I was awoken. Something had fallen in my living room, making a tha-rump noise. Beyond my bedroom curtains, I could see that it was dark. Confused, I forced myself up from my bed and walked into the hall.

There were no lights on in the house, just as I liked it, but I could see that the living room was brighter. Moonlight was streaming in through an open window, and the curtains were fluttering with the wind coming from outside.

Someone was half way over the window sill, one leg inside and the other on the outside. The neighbor girl was staring in fear at me, her green eyes large and guilty. I stared back, dumbfounded. My mouth opened to say something, but she seemed to have come to her senses and quickly jumped out, her small frame landing with only the tiniest of thuds on my lawn. I walked over to the window only in time to see her shadow disappear around the corner of her own home.

Slowly, I pulled the window down and locked it in place. Calmly, I replaced the curtains so they shut out the moonlight.

I didn’t sleep that night.